Behind the wheel and under 26? You’re not invincible!

Road crashes are the biggest killer of young people in the UK today and yet road safety does not merit the same priority as issues such as knife crime or drugs.

Young people have no incentive to treat driving as a skill for life and often seek to learn as quickly and as cheaply as possible. New drivers are most at risk in their first year of driving and yet the current system abandons them to learn by their own, sometimes fatal, mistakes.

The risk factors are well known; lack of experience (in all traffic conditions but especially rural roads, darkness and poor weather), attitude, distraction (by peer passengers or smartphones) and alcohol and drugs. Choosing effective restrictions to limit the effect of these risk factors should be the key objective of the government in creating a new licensing system that is practical, affordable and works to reduce young driver road deaths and injuries.

If you are under 26 and would like to have your driving competence checked you can take the IAM RoadSmart “Young Driver Assessment”.

Visit the IAM RoadSmart website for more details.

Alternatively, if you are under 30 and would like to take the IAM RoadSmart Advanced Driving Course the local Central Sussex Group is offer a £49 reduction when you pass the test. The full cost is £149. The offer is available between now and 15 March 2018.

Contact Andy Wilson on 01329 483661 or email membership.csamcar@iamgroups.org.uk